I read a lot of pasta
recipes. Occasionally I come across a recipe that illustrates a novel technique
to cook pasta. Let’s take a look at one such recipe: Tagliolini col sugo di agnello (Egg
pasta with lamb sauce). What’s unique
about this recipe? You cook the fresh tagliolini
directly in its sauce.
I first read Tagliolini col sugo di agnello in Oretta
Zanini De Vita’s Il Lazio a Tavola (1994),
which Maureen B. Fant translated into English as The Food of Rome and Lazio. The recipe also appears in the updated 2013
version of The Food of Rome and Lazio
entitled Popes, Peasants, and Shepherds –
Recipes and Lore from Rome and Lazio published by the University of
California (here). Look and you’ll also find a nearly identical recipe for this
dish (but with more detailed instructions) on-line by Mario Batali. The
following recipe from Popes, Peasants,
and Shepherds makes 4 servings.
1 small onion
1 carrot
leaves from 1 small bunch
basil
3½ ounces (100 g) lean
pancetta
2 tablespoons extra-virgin
olive oil
1½ pounds (700g) boneless
lamb, in ¾-inch (2-cm) pieces
1 cup (250 ml) dry white
table wine
12 ounces (350 g) canned
tomatoes
salt
pepper
12 ounces (350 g) fresh
egg tagliolini
Chop together finely the
onion, carrot, basil, and pancetta. Put them in a pan with the oil over medium
heat. When the pancetta fat has completely melted, add the lamb and brown,
stirring. Add the wine and let it evaporate, then add the tomatoes and 4 cups
(1 liter) boiling water. Season with salt and pepper and continue cooking until
the meat is tender. Remove the lamb from the sauce with a slotted spoon and
keep warm.
Add the tagliolini to the sauce, which should be
quite liquid, and cook until al dente. Return the lamb to the pan and stir for
a few minutes. Transfer to a warmed serving bowl and serve immediately.
Read through Fant’s skillful
translation of Zanini De Vita’s Italian recipe and the American reader might ask:
What size pan? What cut of lamb? Chop the tomatoes? Cover the pot as the lamb
cooks? Batali’s version of the recipe answers these questions: a large, fairly
deep skillet; lamb shoulder; crush by hand and also add the can’s juice; yes, cover the pan.
When I make the dish I prefer to very finely chop the tomatoes. I might try reducing a cup of chicken stock in place of wine. It’s pretty remarkable to see the starchy pasta transform a very liquid stew into a lovely sauce in a matter of a minute or two. Take care to mix the pasta as it cooks so it doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pan. If I want to save time when making the fresh pasta, I use the tagliolini cutting attachment to my Imperia R220. If you hand-cut your pasta, aim for a noodle width of around 1-mm.
It’s rare, but, as the
above recipe demonstrates, not unheard of to cook pasta in sauce as opposed to
boiling water. Zanini De Vita’s Encyclopedia
of Pasta (2009) contains other examples (e.g., see gramigna (here).) It’s much more common to finish a dish by briefly
cooking the just boiled pasta with its sauce. And since we’re exploring cooking
pasta, why go through the trouble of finishing cooked pasta in its sauce?
Thomas McNaughton writes in his 2014 Flour
+ Water Pasta (here) that this step allows the pasta to adsorb (as
opposed to absorb) the sauce. McNaughton explains: “The reality of the
science is that once pasta is cooked in water, it doesn’t absorb any more
flavor from the finishing pan sauce. Because pasta is water-soluble, it absorbs
only the water from the sauce, not any aroma or oils. Instead, the pasta is adsorbing the flavors, meaning the
flavor only sticks to the surface of the pasta.” So, in a nutshell, the step
helps pasta and sauce’s flavors to cling to one another. See what you can learn
from reading cookbooks!